Azerbaijani flag carrier airlines to resume flights with Egypt November

CAIRO – 6 September 2018: The flag carrier Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) announced its intention to resume weekly direct flights between Egyptian South Sinai’s city of Sharm al-Sheikh and Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku starting Nov. 8.

In a press conference last July, Egyptian ambassador to Azerbaijan Adel Ibrahim affirmed that Egypt has become totally safe and ready to receive Azerbaijani tourists who are looking forward to visiting Egyptian tourist attractions.

Despite an agreement that took place last November between Governor of South Sinai Khaled Fouda and the Deputy CEO of Azerbaijan Air Lines Jamil Manizad to resume direct flights from Baku to Sharm al-Sheikh beginning March 2018 after a year of suspension, the decision has not yet come into effect.

CAIRO – 16 November 2017: Governor of South Sinai Khaled Fouda agreed with Deputy CEO of Azerbaijan Air Lines Jamil Manizad to resume direct flights from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan to Sharm El-Sheikh beginning March 2018 after a year of suspension.

Last July, the Egyptian ambassador revealed the reason of the delay, saying that the airlines are worried that direct flights can cause big financial losses. Ibrahim added that the absence of direct flights led the trade turnover between the two states to weaken.

Trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $8.05 million in 2017, according to Azerbaijani official reports.

Egyptian Air Cairo, which is owned by EgyptAir, the flag carrier airline of Egypt, decided earlier to suspend flights from Sharm al-Sheikh to Baku due to insufficient number of passengers, Azerbaijan-based Trend News Agency reported.
Additional reporting by Amr Mohamed Kandil